Audio: Sarah Dufresne (’14) on the Upcoming Walk for Life West Coast

Posted: January 23, 2014

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“We’re heading up for the West Coast Walk for Life, which takes place every year in San Francisco, Calif. — definitely a city to witness in, and something that’s become a tradition here at the College. We head up on Friday, and we return on Sunday. We have over 200 students this year!”

— Sarah Dufresne (’14)

As Thomas Aquinas College’s students prepare for their annual trek to San Francisco for Saturday’s Walk for Life West Coast, senior Sarah Dufresne took part in an interview about the pro-life cause with From the Median Radio[3] in Cleveland. Miss Dufresne, who led 200 of her fellow students to the Bay Area last year, discussed why the Walk is so important among the College’s students. “We’re witnessing in the streets as Christ, as John Paul II, as many of the saints have called us to do,” she told host Molly Smith. “We are witnessing to the Culture of Life.”

In making the case for life to an aggressively secular culture, Miss Dufresne noted, pro-lifers must be able to speak in terms that the unchurched, the agnostic, and the atheist can understand. “It’s not enough to just say ‘Oh, well, this is what my faith tells me, or this is what the Church teaches,’” she explained. “Those things are very important, but we need leaders who are equipped to have dialogue on a rational level, from natural law. … We need leaders who are informed, who can make rational arguments.”

Miss Dufresne credits her education at Thomas Aquinas College with helping her to form those kinds of arguments. “Part of what I’ve really learned, and what the College really instills, is a practice and almost a love for having good conversations, “ she said. “What this fosters in the life of the student is active listening — the ability to ask very good questions, to find common ground, and to really learn how to dignify the person who’s possibly presenting an opposing argument from your argument.”

Above all, however, she stressed that the pro-life movement must approach the world with joy, just as the student walkers do each year in San Francisco, where they bravely smile, sing, and pray as they navigate the city’s streets, even when being taunted from the sidewalks. “We’re joyful because we know that Christ is victorious,” said Miss Dufresne. “And we know that the unborn have a place in His heart.”

Listen to or download[4] Miss Dufresne’s interview on From the Median Radio.